As the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election began pointing toward a Biden-Harris administration, private prison companies took a financial hit. Over a few days, CoreCivic and GEO Group, the two largest private prison companies in the United States, saw their stock prices drop substantially. Both companies had benefited from the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies. In just a few days, though, investors seem to have grown concerned about the future of the private prison industry under a Biden presidency. From November 3 to November 6, CoreCivic’s price fell 20.1 [...]
Dip in families detained by ICE
The Trump administration’s anti-migrant policies are well known and multifaceted. Interestingly, the government’s heavy-handed approach is showing up in fewer detained families at ICE’s “family residential centers.” Data I obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests show that there were substantially fewer children held alongside their parents in September 2019 than at that point one or two years earlier. From October 2016 to September 2019 (ending on September 14, 2019), the number of people held in ICE’s family immigration prisons peaked in May 2018 when, on an average day, the [...]
Private prison attempt to claim homeowner tax credit rebuffed
In an astonishing display of hubris, private prison corporation GEO Group has been trying to benefit from a Texas sales tax exemption available only to homeowners. In a decision issued this month, a state appellate court halted GEO’s efforts, concluding that a prison is not a home even to the people locked inside. Geo Group, Inc. v. Hegar, No. 03-15-00726-CV, slip op. (Tex. Ct. App. Aug. 10, 2017). Under Texas law, gas and electricity sold for “residential use” is not subject to the state’s sales tax. GEO claimed that facilities it owns or operates fit this description, thus it should not [...]
Texas Republican Admits He’s Pushing Private Prison Corporation’s Bill
A Republican state representative admits that he is promoting a bill written by the private prison corporation GEO Group. The bill would make it easier for private prison corporations to help the federal government lock up migrant families. “I've known the lady who’s their lobbyist for a long time,” Representative John Raney reportedly told the Associated Press last week. “That’s where the legislation came from.” The second-largest private prison operator in the United States, GEO runs an immigration prison in Karnes City, Texas, about sixty miles south of San Antonio, where it holds entire [...]
In 1 week, private prisons announce new contracts for 3000 immigration detention beds
In another sign that ICE remains committed to business-as-usual in the closing days of the Obama Administration, the agency responsible for maintaining custody of people facing the possibility of forced removal from the United States signed a new contract with private prison giant GEO Group to open a 780-bed facility in Georgia. The second largest private prison corporation operating in the United States, GEO’s safety track-record is horrendous. A recent report by journalist Dorian Merino found that at least three people died inside a single GEO facility over a four-year period. Two years ago, [...]
Private prison in Ohio makes room for 2000 ICE detainees
Yesterday, CoreCivic, the new name for the Corrections Corporation of America, announced a new contract with ICE to imprison thousands of migrants in Ohio. CoreCivic/CCA will operate 2,016 beds for ICE at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center. CoreCivic/CCA already holds approximately 600 migrants at the same facility on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service. While people being held on behalf of ICE are generally awaiting immigration court hearings, those held on behalf of USMS are held pending federal criminal prosecution. This represents another instance in which ICE helps boost the bottom [...]
DHS committee recommends continued use of private prisons
The Department of Homeland Security should continue relying on private prison contractors to maintain its immigration detention practices, a key subcommittee recommends in a draft report. Though the group criticizes the existing oversight of immigration detention centers, it takes a more critical stance toward county jails than privately-owned or operated facilities. In a draft report dated today, the Homeland Security Advisory Council’s Subcommittee on Privatized Immigration Detention Facilities recommends to Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson that ICE has little choice but to [...]
Rebranding private prisons
Goodbye CCA. Hello CoreCivic. The nation’s largest private prison operator, Corrections Corporation of America, will soon shed its decades-old name in favor of a flashier font, coyly angled logo, and new name: CoreCivic. In a press release issued October 28, CCA said it plans to finalize its name change by the end of 2016. This “rebranding,” the word the company chose to describe its next stage, “is the culmination of a multi-year strategy to transform our business from largely corrections and detention services to a wider range of government solutions,” president and chief executive Damon T. [...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next Page »